HOW BELIEF WORKS
HOW BELIEF WORKS
'Belief … is the central problem in the analysis of mind.'
– philosopher Bertrand Russell, 1921
Our capacity to believe things, from the profound to the mundane, is fundamental to human psychology. So how belief works is fundamental to our lives. However, the prevailing understanding is wrong – and not just a bit wrong but the-Sun-goes-around-the-Earth wrong.
And just as the truth about the Sun and the Earth’s relationship had profound implications for our understanding of the cosmos, the truth about how belief works has profound implications for our understanding of human psychology – and so also has profound implications for our lives. But this truth is so counterintuitive that it can, ironically, seem unbelievable – as did the idea that the Earth isn’t the stationary centre of the universe but sweeps around the Sun while spinning about an axis.
This ongoing series of articles reveals the truth about the psychology of belief, and explores its implications.
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The Impossibility of Degrees of Belief
The Origin of Cognitive Biases (in progress)